How Do You Fix "Location Not Available" in Google Drive for Desktop?
The "Location Not Available" error in Google Drive for Desktop means your computer cannot see the Google Drive folder because the Drive for Desktop app is not running. It normally shows up after the app has updated itself in the background and failed to restart. Rebooting your computer fixes it in most cases.
Here is the part that catches nearly everyone out. Wait 2 to 3 minutes after the reboot before opening Google Drive. Drive for Desktop starts up slightly after Windows or macOS has finished loading, and it needs to mount the drive before File Explorer or Finder can see it. Open it too early, and you get the identical error, which is why people assume the reboot did not work and start looking for something more complicated.
What causes the "Location Not Available" error in Google Drive?
Drive for Desktop is not running. Google Drive is a virtual drive, mounted as G: on Windows by default, rather than a real folder sitting on your hard disk. When the app stops, that drive letter disappears from the operating system, and every shortcut or saved file path pointing at it breaks immediately.
There are six situations that produce the error. The first one accounts for the overwhelming majority of the cases our clients report.
| Why Google Drive Says "Location Not Available" | ||
| What happened | Why you get the error | What fixes it |
|---|---|---|
| Drive updated but did not restart (most common) | The app is closed, so the virtual drive is never mounted. | Restart the computer and wait two to three minutes. |
| You opened Drive straight after waking the computer | The app is starting up but has not mounted the drive yet. | Wait two to three minutes and try again. |
| Drive for Desktop is not starting at login | The app never launched, so there is nothing to mount the drive. | Open it from the Start Menu or Applications folder. |
| A shortcut points at an old drive letter or a moved folder | The path saved in the shortcut no longer exists. | Delete the shortcut and create a fresh one. |
| Your account is signed out or the session has expired | The app is running but has no Google Workspace account attached. | Sign back in from the Drive icon in your taskbar or menu bar. |
| A firewall, VPN, or proxy is blocking Drive | The app cannot reach Google, so the drive never appears. | Check your network settings, or ask whoever manages your IT. |
Google's own guidance on fixing problems in Drive for desktop lists a restart of the app as the first troubleshooting step, ahead of anything more involved. That matches what we see day to day.
How do you fix it in under two minutes?
Restart the whole computer rather than just the app. This is tech support's oldest advice, and it earns its reputation here because a reboot closes Drive for Desktop cleanly, applies whatever update was sitting half-finished, and starts the app fresh.
Save any open work and close your applications.
Restart the computer. On Windows, choose Restart rather than Shut Down, because Shut Down leaves Fast Startup in play and can carry the problem over.
Log back in and give the machine two to three minutes.
Open File Explorer on Windows or Finder on a Mac and go to Google Drive.
Your files should be there.
Most people have not restarted their computer in days, so you get a second benefit. The reboot frees up memory and clears any other updates that were waiting.
What if a reboot does not fix it?
Start the app by hand. Find Google Drive in your Start Menu on Windows or your Applications folder on a Mac, click it, wait a minute or two, then try Google Drive again. We wrote a separate walkthrough on how to manually restart Google Drive for Desktop if you want the exact steps with screenshots.
If the app is already running and you still cannot see your files, click the Drive icon in your taskbar or menu bar and check that your Google Workspace account is signed in. An expired session leaves the app open but the drive unmounted, which produces the same error message.
Why does the error keep coming back?
Something is stopping Drive for Desktop from launching at login. The usual culprits are the app being disabled in your startup programs, third-party antivirus software interfering with it, or a VPN that connects after Drive has already tried and failed to reach Google.
Old shortcuts are the other repeat offender. If someone made a desktop shortcut to a specific folder inside Google Drive months ago, and that folder has since moved, the shortcut will throw "Location Not Available" every single time, even when Drive is working perfectly. Delete it and create a fresh one. The same applies to entries pinned in Quick Access.
How do you stop it from happening again?
Restart your computer at least once a week rather than leaving it asleep for days on end.
Check that Google Drive appears in your startup apps so it launches when you log in.
Pin the top-level Google Drive folder instead of building shortcuts to folders nested deep inside it.
Let Drive for Desktop update itself. Blocking updates causes more problems than it prevents.
If you keep hitting sync oddities along with this error, our guide on how to force a folder refresh in Google Drive covers the related fix.
If a single file has gone missing rather than the whole drive, how to find a missing file in Google Drive shows you how to trace what happened to it.
Kimbley IT is a Google Cloud Partner and managed IT support provider in Birmingham, and Drive for Desktop is one of the applications we keep updated and monitored across every computer we look after. When the app is managed centrally, this error largely stops happening because the update and restart cycle is handled before anyone notices.
Frequently asked questions
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No. Your files are safe in Google Drive and you can reach them right now at drive.google.com in any browser. The error only affects the virtual drive on your computer, not the files themselves. Nothing has been deleted.
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Almost never. A reboot or a manual restart of the app resolves this error in the vast majority of cases. Reinstalling is a last resort, and only worth trying after a restart, a manual launch, and a sign-in check have all failed.
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Drive for Desktop mounts your Google Drive as a virtual drive on Windows, and G: is the default letter it uses. You can change this letter in the app's preferences, though changing it will break any existing shortcuts that referenced the old one.
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Yes. On macOS the wording is slightly different and the drive appears under Locations in Finder rather than as a lettered drive. The cause is identical, and so is the fix. Restart the Mac, wait a couple of minutes, then open Finder.
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While the app is not running, nothing syncs. Any changes you made offline sync once Drive for Desktop restarts and reconnects. Wait a few minutes after the restart before assuming a file has failed to upload.
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If this keeps happening across your team's computers, the underlying issue is usually how Drive for Desktop is being updated and managed rather than anything the person at the keyboard is doing. Book a video call with Kimbley IT using the form below and we will take a look.
